When I was a little kid, this was one of my favorite books. During a nostalgic period in college that marked the beginning of the end of my childhood, I bought a copy of it, and now Pete has taken to it. I picked it up a few weeks ago to read to him, and I was impressed by the tear-jerking sadness of it. I think that's part of what I liked about it as a kid. Good catharsis.
Last night, from the back seat of the car, Pete "read" the entire book to himself. He loves to tell the story of books to himself, but he's self-conscious about it and will stop if he knows someone's listening. Who knew fear of public speaking started so early?
So, Heather and I were in the front seat, trying not to giggle, as Pete went through the book. An example:
...
Then, that boy said to tree, "I need boat, sail away from my home"
(page turn)
Then, tree said, "I no have boat, I only have leaves"
Then, that boy take those leaves from that tree.
(page turn)
That boy said to tree, "I need boat, sail away from my home"
Then that boy cut down tree trunk, make boat and sail away.
(page turn)
Then, that tree was so lonely.
(page turn)
That boy come back!
(page turn)
That tree say, "I am good stump"
...
It was a beautiful, hilarious, very touching melodrama in the back seat.
By the way, if you haven't noticed, I've surrendered to sentimentality on this blog. I struggled, early on, with not wanting to get too sappy about the kids because while it's intense and meaningful to experience, it can be torturous to listen to. Not many people enjoy listening to cute-blinded parents describe over and over again their fascination with that face their kid makes while he poops.
I didn't want to be that guy, but without that, I've got nothing. The kids are what it's all about for me right now. Not a lot else gets me really excited. I'll surely have sarcasm and wit from time to time, but it would be too artificial to keep out the sappiness. So there you go.
3 comments:
that is amazing and beautiful and it makes me giggle to read it. best wishes you all!
Shel is my favorite artist and author, and the Giving Tree is one of my all time favorites. I am glad my nephew has such good taste, and a insanely brilliant brain for books!
Yep, my favorite book too. It's hard not to get emotional when I read it to my two kids. I think as I kid I understood it as a "nice tree" but now I can see from the perspective of the "tree". Perhaps I understand it from the tree's perspective because the difference in the type of love shown by the tree to the boy compared to the boy to the tree is just like the love relationship between a child and a parent.
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